The Burdens we Bear
by iskren
Summary: Twenty years after the fall off Cocoon, Lightning Farron awakens to a Pulse embroiled in war. Now she and the l'cie, aided by remnants of the Guardian Corps and Calvary must fight to free the citizens of Cocoon from a corrupt government. However, her friends are not what she remembers, and much has changed since she entered crystal stasis.
1. Rude Awakenings

A/N: Hey everybody, This is one of my first attempts at doing this, so if you have any comments/advice, please leave me a review. I hope you guys enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.

* * *

Lightning Farron woke slowly, a gradual awareness of herself as her body kick-started itself. As soon as she was able, her eyes were open. Scanning her surroundings, processing every detail through a threat-assessment routine ingrained into her brain.

The room was dim enough that it didn't hurt her still-adjusting eyes. The walls were a plain white like you would expect in a lab or a hospital, the air was sterile and dry, making the inside of Lightning's nose itch.

A thin woman with shoulder-length brown hair standing a few meters in front of her wearing a military uniform Lightning didn't recognize. She did however, recognize the red shaped cross stitched into the shoulder of her uniform. Was she in a hospital?

She continued scanning the room, quickly noticing two others. Men this time, wearing the same uniform, minus the patch. They were standing in front of the only door, guarding it with sleek-looking assault rifles held at ready. Probably not a hospital.

Her hand shot to her waist and her gunblade was out in an instant, snapping the blade up, and stepping into a ready stance. Her centre of gravity low, lithe body tense and ready to strike. The position was comfortable for her, familiar after countless hours.

The medic stepped back immediately and the rifles were up and pointed at her in an instant.

"Ms. Farron we mean you no harm, please, lower your weapon" the woman said, her hands outstretched, trying to disarm the tension.

"Doesn't look that way!" Lightning shot back, her body coiling, readying to strike.

The woman opened her mouth to reply when the door slid opened and a man stepped through.

"Lower your weapon, Sergeant" Said a deep, booming voice.

The voice sounded familiar, but Lightning couldn't place it until she saw the man it belonged to. The man Lightning recognized as her old lieutenant, Amodar.

Relief tried to seep through her tense body at the sight of the familiar face, but Lightning pushed it down. She didn't have the facts yet.

Amodar was wearing the same uniform as the soldiers. The rank on his shoulder identified him as a Colonel. He was not the same as she remembered though. His face had more lines and was weathered. He seemed more... grey?

"Uh sir? You look like old, sir." Lightning said hesitantly.

Amodar chuckled. "Yeah I suppose I do, but I guess that's what happens when you get old." Lightning started.

Crystal stasis. She could have been in crystal stasis for centuries and it wouldn't even feel like a minute to her. "How long sir?"

"A while"

Amodar turned and started to leave the room, beckoning for her to follow. Lightning, unsure of what to do, folded her blade and replaced it at her waist, following him out the door.

Lightning was relieved of her blazefire sabre before she was escorted to a room. A soldier who couldn't of been older than 18 accepted the weapon. He stared at the gunblade in his hands as if it was a relic. Maybe it was.

While under normal circumstances Lightning would never consider giving up her weapon, there was too many soldiers around for it to make a difference. Lightning knew she was good. Very good. But she wasn't willing to find out if she was good enough. Not in unknown territory, and definitely not without l'cie magic.

Lightning started. _L'cie magic._ She peeked down her shirt and sighed in relief, holding her hand to her chest, when she saw nothing but unblemished skin.

Her room had plain white walls, with a single bed covered in blankets that looked standard-issue. There was also a table with two chairs, and a small couch. It still smelled like a hospital. It was probably bugged but Lightning had no idea how to look for that.

There were no windows, but that didn't surprise her. Windows weren't secure, and it might tell her something before they wanted her to know.

Even though having Amodar present eased her mind a little, the thought of an unknown military force possibly listening or watching her made her edgy.

Amodar had also refused to say anything about Serah or anybody else, saying only "We'll talk about it when you're settled"

Well here she was... Settled... She sat down on the single bed. She instantly stood up and went to the door of her quarters. Tapping the panel on the wall, the door slid open. The hallway was empty.

Lightning started forward, but stopped when she noticed a dark strip a few centimetres tall on the side of the door, about one third of the way up. It was positioned at the perfect height such that she couldn't get through the door with out passing in front of that strip. A motion sensor.

That explained the lack of guards, she was not getting out of this room without them knowing.

She closed the door and sat down at the table, not yet ready for sleep. The tables and chairs also looked standard-issue; made of wood and focusing purely on function, with aesthetics completely forgotten. Then again, Lightning had always found a certain elegance in functionality.

She looked around the room and knew she wasn't going to get answers until Amodar decided to give them. She didn't have to wait long. A few minutes later, The the door beeped, the semi-harsh tone cutting through the silence.

When the door didn't open after a few seconds Lightning called out, causing the door to open and allowing Amodar into the room.

"Do you mind?" Amodar asked, gesturing at the remaining chair. Lightning shook her head and Amodar sat down beside her. There was a moment of silence before he spoke:

"Alright. You've got questions. Ask them"

Lightning responded immediately "How long has it been? Who else is awake? Are my friends still alive? Are they okay? Where are we?" It came out in a controlled torrent.

He paused for a moment before speaking. "Before we get into that, there's something you should know," he paused "you've been under for nineteen years".

Lightning's breath caught in her throat and her fists clenched beneath the table. Nineteen years. She had been in stasis for two decades.

Amodar, seeing her reaction continued quickly "Your friends are fine. A touchy subject in public, but still alive. They started waking up about 9 years ago, so you're not too far behind."

Lightning nodded her head, still numb from the realization that she had been out of the loop for almost twenty years. Caught in her thoughts, she was not listening as Amodar continued to talk.

"... shooting war on, and it's not going well for anybody."

"Wait what?" Amodar once again commanding Lightning's full attention at the words 'shooting war'.

"I said, There's a war on, and nobody is winning. And your l'cie buddies are on the wrong side of it. Hell, they started the damn thing."

"What?" Lightning spit out, instantly feeling like she had not been greeted by friends, but rather captured by the enemy. Her fists re-clenched in her lap and she deeply wished she still had her gunblade.

"There was a drought a few years back," Amodar continued, "People got hungry, and when people get hungry, they get angry. Long story short, people got angry and took that anger out on the Council –The government that was elected after the fall."

"Elected?" Lightning asked.

"Yea. We took a more democratic approach this time around. For whatever that's worth now."

"It's worth everything. The ability to choose our own path was the reason we fought the fal'cie." Lightning said fiercely. Fate was something she had frequent disagreements with.

"Either way, now that you've deigned to rejoin the living, we're hoping you can bring us together and end this war".

That made Lightning uneasy. She did not like plans that involved her. On top of that, if Hope and Snow were on the other side of a shooting war there was a damn good reason they were there, and she wanted to know why.

When she asked, Amodar looked uncomfortable, his eyes finding the table before he looked up again. That moved Lightning from uneasy to suspicious. Amodar swallowed before responding.

"There was a difference of opinion between your friends and the Council. We have people who want to meet you tomorrow that can explain better than I can." It was a non-answer and they both knew it. Something was not right and Amodar was afraid to talk about it. She was right, the room was bugged. Before Lightning could respond, Amodar stood up.

"I think that's enough for today, Lightning. You have a lot to think about, so I'll leave you to it. It's good to have you back."

Before Lightning could back away, Amodar grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her into a hug. Lightning flinched, not expecting it. Before Lightning could protest, Amodar whispered in her ear. "The bed isn't safe. Sleep on the couch." Lightning froze. Everything was wrong with this situation. Lightning had never seen Amodar act like this.

Amodar released her and left, leaving Lightning thoroughly confused. What the hell could they possibly do to a bed that would make it dangerous?

Lightning wasn't going to find out. Not even risking a pillow she laid down on the couch, laying her head on the armrest.

Waking up to explosions was something Lightning had experienced a few times. Your brain going from fast asleep to wide awake in nothing flat was not a fun process.

Before she could sit up, another explosion rocked the room. This one blowing the wall into the room, filling it with dust and smoke. Lightning was suddenly very glad she wasn't standing up. She stumbled to her feet, neck stiff, ears ringing, vision blurry, and coughing up dust. When the smoke cleared The first thing she saw was the large hole in the wall. The wall that the bed had been pushed against the night before. The bed that was now scattered across the room, pieces of the blankets and pillows still floating towards the ground. Amodar had known this would happen.

 _I should have grabbed that pillow._ Lightning thought, rubbing the knots out of her stiff neck.

As her ears cleared, the ringing was replaced with the sounds of gunfire. Lightning moved to the hole in the wall and looked out over the edge.

It was pitch black and cool, the breeze raising goosebumps on her arms. Lightning pushed the cold to the back of her mind. Now was not a time for distraction.

The only light in the night came from the glowing crystallized remains of Cocoon far, far off in the distance, and tracers flying towards the building she was standing in. Two small fighters buzzed overhead, the roar of their engines was deafening as they sped towards the source of the incoming tracers.

Behind Lightning the door opened, and she spun around, ready fight with her bare hands. Amodar ran into the room, blood splatters on his uniform. He carried his sidearm in one hand, and her blazefire in the other. He folded the gunblade into it's compact-carry mode and tossed it to her.

She caught it and flipped it into its blade form, giving it a shake in an effort to clean the blood off. It didn't work. "What the hell is going on?" She shouted.

"What does it look like? We're leaving!" he responded. He made to close the door, but a soldier burst through, throwing Amodar to the ground and levell an assault rifle at his head. Two more soldiers burst in behind the first, but Lightning was already moving.

She was a blur as she crossed the room, intercepting the first soldier. She swung down with her blade, severing his hands before driving the blade through his chest, the rifle hitting the ground with the hands still attached.

She was on the second soldier before the first hit the ground, cutting him down. The last soldier was just out of reach, so Lightning flipped her blazefire into a rifle and shot him instead.

She locked the door and shot the panel before turning and pulling Amodar back to his feet.

Lightning looked out the hole and saw a sleek looking ship soaring towards them, the roar of the

engines mixing with the sounds of battle.

Soldiers started banging on the now-locked door, and Lightning knew it wouldn't be long before they got inside the room. She decided that she didn't want to be here when that happened.

The ship's engines roared louder as the wing-mounted engines rotated, spinning the aircraft around. The main engines now pointing in the opposite direction, stopped it dead in its tracks. The backwash was so powerful it pushed Lightning back a step, throwing her hair around her face. Not just a plane, A VTOL.

The rear hatch lowered like a ramp onto the edge of the building, as the engines rotated downward, keeping the ship hovering while manoeuvring thrusters kept the VTOL parked on the edge of the building.

The first thing Lightning noticed weren't the benches running the length of the VTOL's passenger area, or the large logo painted on the grey cockpit door that read 'N.O.R.A'. What she noticed was the tall, thin, man wearing a Calvary uniform with twin pistols holstered on his thighs, a brown, afro showing streaks of grey topping his head.

"You sure are a sight for sore eyes, soldier girl." Sazh held out his hand. Lightning grabbed it and stepped up into the rear of the aircraft, followed closely by Amodar.

"Where are we going, Sazh?" She asked.

"Home. You got a couple people who are pretty antsy to see you again."

"Don't mean to interrupt," Amodar jumped in, "But can we get out of here? That door isn't going to hold."

Sazh returned to the cockpit leaving Lightning and Amodar alone in the rear of the ship. They strapped in and sat in silence.

Almost as soon as they were strapped in, the ship shot forward back in the direction it come, jerking Lightning violently against the straps of her seat, causing her to clenching her teeth and fists.

"I thought you played for the other team."

"So did a lot of people" Amodar replied "When the war broke out, I stayed in Haven when everyone else left. We figured you'd come out one day and wanted someone nearby when that happened, to help get you out. I was the only person who you knew that wouldn't be shot on sight."

"Haven?" If it was a place, Lightning had never heard of it.

"When Cocoon turned crystal, everyone that was still alive settled near the base. The settlement was a place of safety in a harsh world. For a long time, it truly felt like a haven. When the Council decided to name the settlement someone suggested it, and it stuck."

"I see. So where are we going?"

"Base is about 8 hours away riding in this, but we'll be meeting up with the everyone else once the ground forces disengage and flying home together, call it sixteen hours."

"Don't use ground transport?"

"Not unless we can't avoid it. Air is faster and much safer. All kinds of creatures in the Pulse wilderness that would like nothing more than a bit of human for dinner"

"I remember. What about the ones that fly? They weren't a picnic either."

"No they are not, but at least you can see them coming in the air."

A speaker in the cockpit bulkhead started spitting out static and Sazh's voice. "Hey, ETA 1 minute. Turn the monitor on to the front camera on if you want to see something cool"

Amodar obliged and a small screen underneath the radio flickered to life.

Although the shuttle Lightning was flying in was large, it was dwarfed compared the beast she was staring at through the small monitor mounted on the bulkhead. It looked like a brick with engines stuck to it. On the side of the ship, in large white letters it read: _Nora._

They have a ship now... And it hasn't fallen out of the sky yet... Lightning couldn't help but wonder who they stole it from. She didn't remember NORA for their ability to build or fly airships.

The top of the ship sported a large hanger door, that was currently open, with twin winches on both sides of the door. There was also a weapon mounted on the bow, but she was too far away to make out what it was.

Besides the weapon and the winches, The only thing decorating the deck of the ship was a small control tower.

 _It looks like a cargo ship that someone stuck a gun on_.

Lightning voiced her opinion and Amodar barked a laugh "Yeah, sounds about right"

As the ship made its final approach Lightning watched another ship, almost identical to the one they were in, rise out of the cargo-hold of the ship.

This ship wasn't black like the one they were in. It was pure white and Lightning recognized the Calvary Pararescue insignia painted behind the cockpit.

A minute later Lightning heard the engines rotate again. Lightning could still feel the vibrations of the engines as Sazh landed the VTOL in the belly of _Nora_. and Lightning, Amodar, Sazh, and a man who Lightning assumed was the co-pilot, wearing the same uniform, disembarked from the ship.

The cargo area of _NORA_ was exactly as long as it looked from the outside, but it was only half again as tall as the ship. From the size, Lightning guessed they could have easily fit twenty more of the shuttles she was flying in. Despite the low clearance, Sazh had navigated it deftly, safely seeing his passengers aboard.

"Alright Kreiss, strap her down" Sazh said to the co-pilot as they stepped off the ramp into the completely empty hangar bay.

"What? Why don't you help, old man?"

"Because I'm older than you, and you need to learn to respect your elders." Kreiss huffed, exasperated. He opened his mouth to respond when Sazh continued

"Plus, I have orders to bring Amodar and soldier girl to the bridge ASAP." Kreiss sighed in defeat, turning back to the ship, while Sazh chuckled victoriously. As they left the hanger, he muttered to Lightning.

"Bending over hurts my back. I'm old you know?"

Lightning smiled. there were no orders.

"So how's the kid?" Lightning asked as they walked to the bridge.

"Hates it when you call him a kid. Dajh is sixteen now"

Lightning whistled "That's older than Hope when we were fighting fal'cie. How's the chocobo?"

Sazh nodded in agreement. "Big. Can't even keep the thing in the house. We had to build a house for it in the yard. Her and Dajh are inseparable though. He's the only kid who rides to school on a chocobo"

Lightning pictured a small Sazh riding a chocobo through the streets causing trouble, and couldn't help but smile at the thought.

"How's Serah?"

Sazh paused, unsure if he should continue "She's good, married Snow a while back"

Fantastic. Now Lightning really was his sister.

Sazh looked at the ground as they walked "They wanted to wait for you..."

"No, I get it. Nobody could predict when I was going to wake up, and I can't expect them to put their lives on pause for me."

Lightning couldn't lie to herself. It hurt like hell not being there for the wedding, but what kind of sister would she be if she begrudged Serah her life? She had tried that once, and it almost cost her everything. Lightning had promised to never try again.

They reached the base of the tower and climbed the small flight of stairs in silence.

As they stepped on to the bridge of _NORA,_ Lightning took in every detail: It was small, dimly lit room with windows on all sides except for where they entered. The room was not designed for luxury, built in a time when resources were so scare that 'function' was barely possible, let alone 'form'.

There was a seat in the middle for the captain, and one in front of each of the four command consoles were placed ahead of the captain's seat, two looking significantly newer than the two on the right

On the far left was Lebreau, somewhere in her mid thirties now, sitting at the communications console with a bulky headset wrapped around her head, microphone extending towards her mouth. She was speaking to somebody over the radio.

In the middle-left sat Yuj running operations. His console was larger than the rest and was packed with screens that showed everything from radar to ammunition supply levels for the weapon mounted to the bow of the ship. Everything critical to making informed tactical decisions.

In the middle-right was a man Lightning didn't recognize flying the ship. He was older, probably in his late forties with goggles on his head, same as Maqui.

At the last console, Maqui was controlling the Engineering console, monitoring outputs from the engines and power generators, the headset on his head connecting him to various people throughout the ship.

Where's the big one? Lightning thought to herself. She could have sworn that there was one more member of NORA.

Sazh approached the man sitting in the Captain's chair and said "I got someone you're gonna want to meet"

The man stood up and turned around, and Lightning's eyes widened in surprise.

"Farron. good to see you again" said Rygdea, the commander-in-chief of the Calvary.

"You survived? How?" Lightning asked

"When the Calvary came under attack from the fal'cie, we immediately began evacuation to the surface of Pulse, Bartholomew Estheim and I were t -" he was interrupted as Yuj called out

"Sir, those fighters are coming back around, they're headed straight for the EVAC transport!" Yuj shouted. The two ships from earlier that Lightning remembered flying out towards the airship she was currently standing on.

"Understood. Lebreau, tell Gadot to open fire. And tell him not miss this time!" Rygdea shouted, refocusing on the task at hand.

Lebrau hit a button on her panel and passed on the orders. A few seconds later, the bow of _NORA ONE_ started spitting a firestorm of tracers into the night. Lightning could hear the rapid-fire booming of the weapon, feel the vibrations in her bones, and see the tracers speeding into the darkness.

 _I knew one was missing._ Lightning suddenly knew where the other NORA member was.

Lightning couldn't see what Gadot was shooting at in the darkness, but moments later there was an explosion in the distance, quickly followed by another. The bridge burst into cheers, Lightning included. She didn't personally know anybody on the incoming rescue ship, but they were responsible for saving her life, and that was something Lightning could appreciate.

While everyone was settling down, Lebreau suddenly went dead silent, the merriment vanishing from her face. She focused on whoever she was talking with. Lighting noticed and tried to listen, whatever it was, if it made her focus like that, it wasn't good.

"...will be waiting, you're cleared to land. Good luck. _Nora_ out." She flicked another switch on her control panel.

She looked up to Rygdea, to get his attention, but he was already listening, the smile gone from his face.

Lebrau smashed a button on her panel and started talking in clipped, professional sentences.

"The EVAC ship was hit on its way back. We need medics in the hanger now. ETA forty five seconds. Two yellows and three reds on board." She said, telling both Rygdea and the microphone at the same time.

If those codes meant the same thing they did when Lightning was in the GC, it wasn't good. The colours were used to described patient conditions to doctors in the hospital.

Greens were minor casualties, and usually just needed painkillers and a bandage. Yellows were serious and needed serious, immediate medical attention. Red was high-risk and needed immediate surgery. Blue's went straight to the morgue.

Rygdea started barking orders "Cid, get us moving. We have wounded incoming and the closest surgery-capable hospital is almost two days away. Lebreau, let them know they'll have to land while we move" he said.

"Sazh, get back to your ship and warm up the engines. We can keep the yellows here, but the reds need to get back to base ASAP."

Sazh didn't hesitate for a second. He nodded and spun around, sprinting back towards the hanger.

If what Amodar had told her was right, he wouldn't be seeing a bed or a meal for at least another eight hours.

With Sazh gone, Lightning was left with Amodar and the bridge crew. Rygdea turned to her and his shoulders sagged as he sighed, deflated.

"Welcome back, Farron."


	2. Old Friends Part 1

A/N: So I'm aiming to update about every two weeks on Sundays, but we'll see if I can keep that up when school starts again. This is a much shorter chapter than the last one, due to the fact that chapter 3 just seemed stupid long with this part in, so it became it's own chapter. Let me know what you think.

 **In a Quandry:** To answer your review from chapter 1, Some parts will be similar, some not so much. However, I don't want to say anything (partially because I'm still nailing down the details). If you remember any of those pieces of dialogue that you mentioned I would be happy to get a PM with some details. I'm always aiming to improve my writing.

* * *

Minutes after the injured VTOL landed, Sazh's ship departed with the worst of the wounded.

Lightning found herself wandering through the ship, retracing her steps through the seemingly endless, identical, dull gray hallways. A few slightly confusing minutes later found her standing in the doorway of the hanger. Her mouth opened in shock at the grisly scene before her.

The once sleek VTOL was a mutilated corpse, Riddled with holes that traced a line diagonally down the length of the ship through the port-side engine, Lightning quest.

Minutes ago the hanger had been in pristine condition, the floors spotless. Now, it was a warzone. The air was hot with exhaust and the iron tang of blood. There were scorch marks on the floor where Sazh's ship had been parked and the floor surrounding the VTOL was smeared with blood where the wounded had traveled.

There was a single person in the hanger, aside from Lightning. The man was walking around the wounded aircraft, slowly tracing the holes with his fingers like the scars of a lover. At six-foot-1-inch he was taller than her, and muscular. Lightning wouldn't call him handsome though, his face was too heavily influenced from his mother. Beautiful would be a better word, she decided.

She didn't even recognize him until he opened his mouth.

"Hey Light, it's great to see you again." he said sadly. His smile didn't reach his ears. There was only one person who ever called her that.

"Hope..." He was so different. The baby fat was long gone, leaving only the firm line of his jaw. His long silver hair was cut short, and his height and build gave him a stature so completely different from the fourteen year old he had been. Lightning almost couldn't reconcile the man she was seeing with the teenager she remembered.

"How long?" half-whispered. How long had he been out of crystal stasis? How many years had he aged while time stood still for her?

"Nine years. I'm twenty-three now." He said, answering the unasked question.

"Twenty three. You're older than me, now"

"Yea." He looked around the hanger and grimaced, as if seeing it for the first time.

"Let's get out of here."

* * *

A few minutes later they were in the galley, sitting down with trays of hours-old food. The last meal had been served long before Lightning even stepped foot on the ship.

It was military food and tasted like sawdust. To Lightning, who hadn't technically eaten for twenty years, it was delicious.

Lightning paused halfway through her plate and looked up, examining this new Hope. While Lightning would never have imagined Hope with short hair, she couldn't deny it suited him.

He looked up from his plate and caught Lightning's eyes, blue on green. There was something there that gave Lightning pause. A hardness that wasn't there before.

"You cut your hair" she said, breaking the silence.

"Old regs. By the time we left I was used to it, so I kept it."

"Makes sense. So you're a pilot now, when did that happen?" Lightning asked.

"About five years ago. By the time I woke up, they had schools built, so I finished school while I figured things out. After, I decided to join the Calvary, and flew Pararescue until the war started"

on Cocoon, Pararesuce pilots had been the best of the best, and they knew it. Tasked with rescuing trapped and injured soldiers, they flew through the worst conditions imaginable to rescue soldiers trapped in hostile environments.

In fact, their unoffical slogans was: 'Even the Guardian Corps needs to call 911'. As much as she hated to admit it, Lightning had been saved by pararescue before, and her pride had taken a long time to recover.

"People didn't object to an ex-l'cie flying around?" Lightning asked.

"Nobody cared, Light. Words can't describe how bad it was back then. I think we upset the balance when we settled on Pulse. It was like the entire planet wanted us gone, like Pulse was allergic to us. Anything that flew wanted us out of the sky, and everything on the ground wanted us dead. It was too dangerous to travel over land, so we used airships. It wasn't much safer but we didn't have a choice.

"Why not?" Lightning asked

"When we landed on Pulse, we needed resources; food, metals, lumber, that kind of thing. Where we settled not all of that was available, so we expanded. We built work camps where we could get what we needed and shipped them to where they were needed. The camps relied on the airships for food and resources so we couldn't shut them down."

"So what happened?"

"We built smaller, armed fighters and used them to protect the cargo ships."

"Like the ones that attacked you?" Lightning asked.

"Identical. Three years ago, I wasn't allowed to fly unless I had those ships with me." he said sadly

Lightning knew exactly how it felt to suddenly be on the wrong side of everything you used to know, of people you to called friends. They all did.

"So what was your role in all this?"

"Like I said, Pararescue. When ships were attacked, we would search for survivors. Occasionally we'd find some."

"But anyway," Hope continued after a moment. "The fighters worked well at first. Losses dropped like a rock, but they adapted, started co-coordinating, attacking in packs. It got even worse than before, so we built bigger ships, retrofitted cargo ships with weapons, anything we could do to gain an advantage.

It worked, eventually. We could defend ourselves well enough that the attacks slowed. But by that point, we were busy shooting at deach other."

"Why did the war start? Amodar couldn't go into detail when I asked." Lightning asked.

Hope broke eye contact, lowering his eyes momentarily and exhaling before meeting her eyes again.

"During my second year in pararescue, there was a drought. People were starving and council members were caught stockpiling food. On top of that, one of the farming camps, Villam, couldn't grow enough to feed themselves let alone meet quota. When the military went in and took the food anyway, there were riots. When the protesters were shot in the streets, the war started. That was two years ago."

Hope had looked at the clock.

"It's late. We should get some sleep." he said, ending the conversation.

Hope showed Lightning to her quarters, a small room with a single bed and a small desk, dimly lit by a small ceiling light. It was basic, but Lightning hadn't slept more than two hours last night. Any bed looked like heaven right now.

Stepping out the door he looked over his shoulder.

"It really is good to see you again, Light. We missed you."

"Goodnight, Hope."

She laid down in bed and drifted to sleep, silently hoping the bed didn't explode.

Hope left Lightning's room and walked down the passageway to his own. He turned the corner to find Gadot sitting on the floor, one knee bent, beside the door to his quarters, running his massive hands through is spiky hair. When he saw Hope he jumped to his feet.

"Hope..."

Hope didn't let him finish his sentence.

Hope stepped forward and put his hand on Gadot's shoulder.

"It's not your fault Gadot. You did what you could. Nobody could have done better."

Truthfully, he wished Gadot had been just a second faster. But Hope also wished that he had done better, and he knew that at the end of the day, neither of them were to blame. They were fighting a war, people got hurt.

"But those soldiers, and your ship..." Hope cut him off.

"... Are still alive, thanks to you. Focus on that, or the guilt will rip you to shreds"

Gadot nodded and Hope entered his room, leaving Gadot behind in the hall.

Shutting the door behind him, he looked to the custom-painted, pure white gunblade hanging from the wall in its sheath. It was light, manufactured specifically for use in exploration and recon teams where space and weight was at a premium.

He reached out and grabbed the handle of the weapon, feeling the name etched into the handle against the palm of his hand.

 _It's not the ones you save that haunt your dreams_.

He released the gunblade and took off his uniform. He laid down in his bed and let the vibrations of the engines carry him to sleep.

* * *

The next day, Lightning stepped out of her room. There was a neatly folded pile of clothes on the floor outside her door.

 _I dug this up from storage. I figured you could use a change of clothes._

 _-Hope_

Lightning hadn't thought about it before now, but she was wearing the same uniform she had been wearing since the Purge. Picking up the uniform, Lightning found the showers at the end of the hall. She stripped, turned the water on and stepped beneath the stream.

When she was done, she returned to her room clean and in a fresh uniform arriving in time to meet Hope at the door.

"We can see home from the deck, if you want to take a look."

"Lead the way." She replied. Lightning was not going to miss her first real chance to see Pulse. Especially now that she was going to be living on it for the rest of her life.

Hope brought them to the outside of the ship, wind howling in their ears they walked over the closed hanger door. When they reached the bow, Lightning got a better look at the weapon mounted there.

It was a quad barreled machine gun, the gunners seat sitting between the barrels. It looked like a perfect weapon for smaller fighters but wouldn't be much use against anything with actual armor.

Lightning turned and looked out over the landscape and was surprised by what she saw.

She didn't know what she was expecting, but it wasn't this. This far away, it was a tiny spec, but it was clearly a thriving town encircled by farms, with green forest surrounding it all. Cocoon rose into the distance, breaking the deep blue of the sky, sunlight sparkling off the crystallized world.

"It's beautiful" she whispered

Hope smiled. "We call it New Villam, and It's one reason why we fight. We aren't all soldiers, Light. Actually, only a few of us are. Everyone else helps in other ways. We're completely self-sufficent, we have to be."

Lightning's gaze swept out over the view, and focused on Cocoon, the giant marble supported by a pillar of crystal, Two of her friends still trapped inside.

"Do you ever think about them?" she asked, nodding towards Cocoon.

"Every time I look up." Hope said, his eyes finding Cocoon.

"Think they'll ever come out?"

"Don't know. As badly as I want them back, I'm not sure what would happen if they did. If that crystal disappears, Cocoon starts fallings, and that's not good for any of us."

She hadn't thought of that. Fang and Vanille were the only thing holding up an entire world. If Cocoon fell to Pulse, the damage would be apocalyptic.

When Lightning tore her gaze away from the view, she found Hope looking at her.

"Rygdea and Amodar are going to ask you tomorrow, but I wanted to do it now. Will you help us fight?

"I wont try and make it look good, the whole thing sucks. We have a couple ships, this is the only one that's armed, and maybe two hundred soldiers. We're out-manned and out-gunned and it's gonna be uphill the whole way. But there are a lot of people stuck under a corrupt government, and I think freeing them is something worth fighting for."

Lightning exhaled. She knew she was going to have answer that question eventually. She had just finished fighting one war, shouldn't she take a break before starting another? Surely nobody would object to her sitting this one out, at least until she wasn't exhausted and the bruises had faded.

She looked away as her face colored in shame. Is that who she was? Someone who wouldn't fight because she was _tired?_

No,she answered herself. Lightning knew that wasn't who she was. It wasn't who she _wanted_ to be.

Last time, She had fought the fal'cie and the Sanctum to save Cocoon. Different enemy, same goal, and despite what Hope said, the odds were better this time. People were easier to kill than fal'cie.

She nodded "I'll fight."


	3. Old Friends Part 2

A/N: Hey everyone, school's starting up again this week (technically started on Thursday but that's not important.) so we'll see if I can keep on schedule with the updates. Just out of curiosity, what do you all think of the story? I haven't really heard from anybody, but what do you like/dislike about the story so far? Let me know.

* * *

The hanger was filled with a mixture of people and stood with their baggage, alone or in groups, anxiously waiting to disembark. Pallets stacked high with equipment was stacked at the back of the hanger, next to Hope's now-mutilated VTOL. The ship had been covered with a large sheet to hide the carnage. Beneath that sheet was the kind of image that negatively affected moral.

Lightning started as the bow of the ship began descending away from the rest of the ship. The whole bow of the ship was a ramp, she realized.

Lightning found herself wondering why there were two entrances into the hanger area, but forgot to ask as she was blinded by the unbearable evening sun streaming into the hanger.

"Serah is going to be waiting out there isn't she?" Lightning asked Hope, shielding her eyes.

"Yeah" he replied.

Lightning was nervous. After all these years, what did she say? How would Serah react? What would she look like? She could stare down fal'cie without flinching, but Lightning suddenly found herself afraid of her sister. Or rather, how her sister had changed.

Lightning felt a hand grab hers and squeeze gently. She started and looked up at Hope, who smiled gently. The small gesture calmed her immeasurably.

"Stay calm, Light. It'll go great." He released her hand.

Not long ago that small gesture of support would have had the opposite effect, Lightning reflected. Their time as l'cie had changed all of them. She took a deep breath, steadying herself as the ramp finished lowering and they moved towards the bow.

When Lighting reached the start of the ramp, she scanned the area below. It was a mess of people disembarking and people welcoming their loved ones home.

"Serah!" Lightning shouted, running down the ramp, people jumping out of her way. Finding her sister in the crowd was easy. She was the only one with pink hair. They collided in a hug, and Lightning could not tell if she was laughing or crying. Probably both, but she did not care. She had Serah back.

When they finally broke the hug, they held each other at arms length.

Serah looked almost exactly like Lightning remembered. No gray hair, her face was still youthful and wrinkle-free. She still wore her engagement necklace, but now she could feel the wedding band on Serah's hand against her arm. She was wearing a white sleeveless sundress, her long pink hair was free, falling down her back instead of captured in the ponytail she used to wear.

"How long...?" Lightning asked, so overwhelmed with emotion she was not able to get the words out.

Serah smiled "Only two years." She replied.

" _Only_ two?" Lightning choked out.

"Better than twenty" Serah said smiling through tears in her eyes.

Lightning choked a laugh and hugged her sister again.

"I love you, Lightning." Serah said quietly.

"I love you too, Serah. I'll never leave you again, I promise." She felt Serah nod against her chest.

"I'm holding you to that."

Lightning let go of her sister and turned to the giant next to her. She stuck out her hand and he shook it.

"Welcome back, Sis!" he said, a smile nearly breaking his face in half.

"Thanks. Don't call me that." she said, but her heart wasn't in it. She was too happy to be bothered by Snow.

When they reunion finally came to an end, the group headed towards the Villier's residence while Sazh left to pick up Dajh. Serah had planned a dinner for Lightning's return.

Snow and Serah's house was a small, one floor house in a neighborhood of almost identical houses. The interior however, was definitely unique. The house was clean with the exception of certain areas that were clearly Snow's. The furniture matched, so that was probably Serah's doing as well. Controlled chaos would be a good description.

The windows were thrown open and the summer breeze began to blow through the house, dispelling the stifling, built-up heat from the sun.

The dinner itself was simple: Dajh brought a roast from the herds that he helped tend as a veterinarian-in-training, and vegetables from the garden behind the house.

For the first few bites there was no talking, everyone was too busy eating what, in Lightning's opinion, the most delicious meal she had ever eaten.

"Serah, When did you learn to cook?" Lightning asked, **"** You used to burn water. **"**

Everyone, with the exception of Snow and Dajh who grimaced, laughed. Lightning guessed they had been the most frequent victims of Serah's early cooking attempts.

"Trial and error. Lots and lots of it." Serah replied. Snow and Dajh still wore facial expressions that showed very clearly how right Lightning was.

Over the rest of dinner, Lightning learned a lot of things that helped her connect the dots between when she entered crystal stasis and now.

She learned that Dajh had decided to become a vet after finishing school a few months ago. New Villam didn't have the resources to provide a Cocoon-level education, so school ended at sixteen years old and kids chose a career and shadowed workers until they were declared ready to work unsupervised. His choice of career did not surprise Lightning, considering the chocobo lived in his yard.

"Is there a lot of work for vets?" Lightning asked. There weren't many creatures on Pulse that were worth keeping as pets.

"Yea. The herds give us everything from meat to clothes, and we keep chocobos for transportation, so keeping them healthy is pretty important."

Lightning was also told, in great detail, about Snow and Serah's wedding. By the time Serah finished talking about it, Lightning almost felt like she had been there.

What should have been the happiest day of Serah's life had been overshadowed by the fact the she wasn't there, and Lightning would always regret that, regardless of how much control she had over it.

Lighting also learned that Snow commanded a team of soldiers, and that Serah was a schoolteacher. That didn't surprise her, Snow couldn't do anything but lead and Serah had always been the mothering type.

The stories went on and on, and by the end of the night, Lightning finally felt at least partially reconnected with her family.

It was odd to think of the group of former l'cie as a family, but it was the only word that fit. They had been through the end of the world together, and it bound them tighter than blood.

While she felt reconnected, she also felt out of place, like life had left her behind. She hadn't been apart of the world for twenty years, or part of her family for ten. Much could change in that much time. Everything could change, she thought, remembering the hardness in Hope's eyes.

"I think its time to call it a night," Hope said, noticing her discomfort. "Light, I'll pick you up tomorrow at oh-five-hundred."

A few minutes later the guests were shuffling out the door, leaving Lightning alone with her sister and her husband.

Snow begged off, citing work the next morning, so Serah showed Lightning to the spare bedroom, which had already been prepared for her arrival.

After she was settled in, Lightning and Serah started catching up, and eventually the conversation turned to Hope.

"So what do you think?" Serah asked.

"He's definitely older" Lightning replied.

"Cuter too" Serah said, smiling.

Lightning's mouth dropped, aghast "Serah! You're married!"

Serah laughed "But you're not! Seriously, what do you think Lightning?"

Lightning went red and ignored Serah's comment about her marital status.

"I don't know, He's the same but different. He still seems like… Hope… But he seems more… I don't know, closed? I asked him about how the war started, and I think he almost didn't tell me. Was it personal, Serah?

Serah nodded "You know about the food shortage? The riots?"

Lightning nodded back.

"That night, Hope was on duty. He had to fly the injured from Villam back to the hospital in Haven, and a lot of them didn't survive the flight. That's not something you want to talk about, let alone remember."

Eventually Serah left, leaving Lightning alone. Laying in her bed Lightning's mind wandered back to Serah's comment.

Three days ago, Hope was fourteen years old. It would take serious adjustment before Lightning got used to the fact that he was an adult.

When Hope came to collect her the next morning Lightning was already waiting. Together they walked the same path they had the previous night. Even with the sun barely peeking above the horizon, it was warm, signaling a hot day ahead.

When they arrived at the base, the front gate that had been open the night before was now closed, two soldiers standing guard, another two in the small guardhouse beside the gate.

Hope nodded to the guards and withdrew a small card from his uniform and tapped it against a panel on the side of the guardhouse. The gate buzzed and the guards waved them through.

"Am I getting one of those?" Lightning asked once they were through the gate.

"Yea. Once you're done with Rygdea and Amodar, They'll get you sorted out"

They continued into the base until Hope pointed her at a small, unassuming building. It was one story tall, same as Serah's house, but was larger. It didn't exactly look like a step up from Lebreau's old bar.

Hope left to start repairs on his ship, leaving Lightning alone. She approached the building and the guards saluted as she approached into the building. As she was escorted into the building she noticed a heavy looking steel door being guarded by two more soldiers.

These soldiers did not salute. They watched her, analyzing her, their hands resting lightly on their sheathed gunblades. Lightning nodded in respect as she passed. Whatever was behind that door, it was important, and worth killing for.

As she entered, Lightning decided that Rygdea's office suited him. It was simple, just a desk and a few chairs, two of which were filled by Amodar and Rygdea, a thin layer of dust covered the furniture, showing its disuse. Rygdea was never the kind of person to spend much time behind a desk.

Rygdea nodded to the last chair and Lightning sat down.

"Thanks for coming in, Farron." Rygdea said once she was seated.

"Not a problem, sir."

"Hope told you about why we're stuck in this mess?" he asked, getting straight to the point.

"The government was stealing food during a drought" Lightning replied.

"And they were never payed for it, meanwhile people were being executed for doing the same. Instead of facing justice, they used the military to keep power. Bartholomew Estheim figured it out actually"

Lightning realized that Hope had never mentioned his dad. She hoped he was still alive, but now wasn't the time to ask.

"Why would the military stand for that? After what we went through with the Sanctum, people must have disagreed."

Rygdea smiled "And here we are. You know why we wanted to meet with you?" he asked.

"You want me to fight."

He nodded "The odds aren't in our favor and we need to change that. They got more troops, more ships and the supply chains to keep them running for years at a minimum. If we want to survive the year we need to start putting the pressure on, we need to start winning. We could really use your help, if you're willing."

Lightning nodded. She had already made her decision.

"I'm in."

Rygdea's eyebrows raised. He hadn't been expecting an immediate response. Amodar smiled. He knew better.

"Alright then. We'll place you with one of our teams and get you training on our tactics and equipment. We've got a mission planned in two weeks, so that will give you a chance to flex your muscles. We're also giving you a communicator and a key-card. We'll have them brought over when they're ready." Amodar said, finally jumping into the conversation.

"I like that sound of that, sir" Lightning replied.

"Hell no!" Lightning shouted

Rygdea had told her where to meet up with her new team leader and when she arrived, Snow was waiting.

He had traded in his trench coat for a GC uniform, though Lightning noticed the uniform wasn't standard issue, a wolf's head was embroidered over the left breast. She also noticed the pauldron on his shoulder, and forced herself to stifle the shock she felt when she saw the insignia of rank on it. How the hell did he outrank her?

"Come on Sis, it'll be fun!"

Lightning realized that if she was watching Snow's back, she could keep him alive for Serah.

"Fine."

"Yes!" he shouted, pumping a massive fist in the air, "The rest of the team is finishing PT, so we'll head over there and get introduced. Since we'll be in the field in two weeks we're doing a run through of everything I think we'll need, parachuting, breaching, CQB, stuff like that. It'll be an interesting two weeks for you."

"Sounds like fun" Lightning said as they began walking. She wasn't sure what parachuting was, but she'd figure it out.

The training area looked almost identical to the one she had trained on when she had gone through basic.

It was a dirt field ringed with barracks. There had probably been grass there at some point, but it was long dead, trampled underneath the stomping feet of training soldiers. If Hope was right about the numbers, every soldier in NORA could stand in this field with room to spare.

The field had no shade, and the morning sun was out in full force, baking the dirt as well as the people Lightning could already feel herself start to sweat. It was going to be a long day.

Soldiers were jogging around the field in groups, and pairs were sparring in the middle, weapons covered with a thin sleeve of material, blocking the blades.

Snow whistled, a long, high-pitched note, and one of the groups changed direction towards them, each of them with the same stitched wolf over the breast.

They waited while they assembled, and Lightning could see that they were watching her. Sizing her up. Lightning returned the favor with interest, forming initial impressions of her new teammates.

She was impressed. Despite the fact that Snow was in charge, they were disciplined: Their hair was cut to GC regulations and they were standing at attention, straight as rulers. Lightning approved.

The first thing she noticed was the weapons. They all had gunblades, and they were all black, the white detailing unique on each weapon, even Snow, who never used more than his hands. She was only mildly surprised. She was slowly getting used to the fact that nothing was the same.

Snow looked at her, "Lightning, meet the Silverwolves. Silverwolves, meet Lightning Farron, your new teammate."

 _Silverwolves? Seriously? Lame._

"We have this thing," Snow continued "New members are challenged for the right to be part of the team."

Of course, Lightning thought. Snow takes over and the whole thing turns into fight club.

"And if I lose?"

"Usually, you'd be placed with a different team, but since Amodar and Rygdea put you here to get you re-adjusted, they'd probably just not like you."

Lightning snorted. "People not liking me, wouldn't that be a pity." she said, her words drowning in sarcasm. However sarcastically she said it, Lightning knew that if they were going to be an effective unit, they needed to get along.

"So. Who's first?"

One of the soldiers stepped forward. "I am."

Lightning looked him up and down and decided he was far too pretty for his own good. She smiled, this was going to be fun

"Let's do it."

A few minutes later found Lightning and the soldier, who's name she learned was Shen, stood on opposite sides of a ten meter diameter practice ring holding tied bundles of sticks that imitated a gunblade.

Snow started the match, and Lightning dashed forward towards Shen. He stepped forward, meeting her practice sword with his own.

The blades clashed and Lightning let her momentum carry her behind her opponent. She twisted around to slash again at his back and Shen rolled forward, Lightning's strike passing inches above his head. He sprang back to his feet and Lightning was already on him, pressing him towards the edge of the circle with a flurry of stabs and slashes.

Shen was running out of room and they both knew it. Lightning was pressing him too hard and he couldn't get off the defensive. Lightning struck downwards and he blocked the blow, letting the momentum carry him to the ground as that same momentum, along with Shen's feet, sent Lightning flying over him.

Lightning hit the ground, grunting in pain as stones connected with her ribs. She managed to stop herself just short of the edge of the ring. She could see the disappointment in Shen's face as her foot connected with it, knocking him unconscious.

She relaxed, letting her head hit the dirt. She exhaled and her hand moved to her side, probing her ribs for damage and wincing as she hit the sore spots. It would bruise, but nothing was broken.

Snow helped Lightning back to her feet as Shen was carried off on a stretcher.

"What next?" Lightning asked.

"Next?" Snow asked back, "You're not done yet." He said, nodding toward the rest of the squad as a mountain of a man stepped forward, the practice sword in his hand looking like the trunk of a small tree.

Lightning swore under her breath

"Alright. Let's get it over with."

That evening, with the sun red in the sky and the light reflecting off of Cocoon as if it were a second sun, Lightning, battered and bruised, moved into the barracks with the rest of her new team. As much as she missed Serah, there was something to be said for not living with your sister and her husband.

When She arrived, one of her new teammates, Rock, the walking mountain, was waiting at the door. He looked worse for wear.

"How are the ribs?" she asked. Her voice was scratchy and her throat was busing. It didn't matter though, she had won.

He smiled "I'll live. How's the throat?" His voice was tinged with pain.

Lightning smiled back "I'll live." Wincing slightly as she said it. She stepped forward to enter and he stopped her.

"You can't go in there wearing that," he said pointing at her uniform vest "You wear this now."

He held up a vest. It was identical to the one she wore, except for the wolf's head embroidered over the left breast.

Lightning smiled and swapped vests. Rock turned and Lightning followed him in into the barracks. The building was typical for military housing, rows of single beds lining the walls, a small chest at the foot of each bed.

Rock pointed at a bed as they walked by. It was on the right side of the building, the third bed in. Lightning got the message. She unclasped the sheath for her waist and tossed it onto the bed, not breaking stride. That was her bunk now.

They walked out the back of the barracks and found the rest of the team sitting on logs around a campfire, a pot of delicious smelling stew sitting over it.

Lightning exchanged names with the people she hadn't met yet and sat down on a log beside Vera, a young woman in her early twenties. She was not quite as tall as Lightning, with green eyes and short blond hair that framed the sharp features of her face. Lightning had learned that she was the Silverwolves' medic.

"Isn't there a cafeteria? Why do you cook your own food?" Shen. He was half stirring the pot and half icing the side of his face. His fight with Lightning earlier that day had been a short and decisive one.

If Lightning had known he was the cook, she might have gone a little easier on the man. It was never a good idea to kick the person who cooked your food.

In response, He grabbed one of the bowls sitting beside the fire and spooned some of the stew into it. He stood to his full not-quite-six foot height and handed it to Lightning.

Lightning took the bowl and tasted it. It was as delicious as it smelled, and considerably better than what she had eaten in the GC back on Cocoon.

"Any more questions?" He asked

In answer, Lightning looked him in the eyes as she spooned more of the stew into her mouth.

He laughed and served himself, sitting down and clearing the way for everybody else to eat.

"So where's Snow? He doesn't eat with his team?" Lightning asked as they ate.

"Few times a week. If I was married to your sister, I'm not sure I'd ever eat with us, her cooking is fantastic. No offense, Shen." Rock said to the cook.

"I'm not sure I'm insulted." he replied to laughter.

"Hope!" somebody shouted.

Lightning looked up at the mention of his name, and saw Hope standing in the doorway to the barracks. He wasn't wearing his uniform top anymore, leaving him in his pants and undershirt. Both of which were covered in grime.

"Hey, guys," he said, then looked to Lightning "Light, I've got some stuff for you. Come take a look."

"Sure" she said, standing up and following him back into the building.

Laid out on her bed was a small collection of items.

Hope picked up a small white card stamped with the Guardian Corps logo and handed it to her.

"Access card, we don't have a lot of them, so don't lose it."

He turned back to her bed and picked up a device Lightning didn't recognize and put in her hand. It was clearly meant for her ear.

"It's a radio. It's connected to everybody in your team, and Snow's connects to all the other team leaders as well as yours. It makes comm management pretty simple."

Lightning nodded and placed the communicator in her ear, the fit was excellent.

He picked up the next item on the bed, a small aerosol can.

"It's a painkiller and a coagulant, basically a cure-all for injuries in the field. We call them potions. The coagulant doesn't really help you right now though." He said, spraying it on her bruising throat.

The pain began to dull instantly as the painkillers went to work.

"Thanks" Lightning said, the pain in her throat slowly lessening.

"Anytime. I should get back to the hanger, there's a lot of work to do before my ship is airworthy again."

"It's late, shouldn't you get some sleep?" Lightning asked.

He shook his head. "Too much to do," He replied "We're in a dangerous position with my ship grounded, the faster I'm flying again the better for everyone. Have a good night, Light."

Lightning waited until he was out the door before she picked up the small aerosol can again and lifted the side of her uniform before spraying it on the purple mess that was the side of her body.

Exhaling as the pain dulled, she fixed her uniform and went back outside, retaking her seat next to Vera.

"So... _Light_." Vera said teasingly.

"Shut up."


	4. Back in Action

Lightning was jerked back as the parachute opened above her, slowing her descent into the thick forest below her. She chanted the procedure for landing in her head, repeating it over and over again.

This was her first jump outside of training and she would not screw it up, however much events conspired to make her do just that. However, she had something no one else did. Something that would make getting un-stuck much easier. She smiled as she felt the sphere living in one of the pouches strapped to her thigh.

Ideally she would not need it at all, but their target was buried deep in the middle of forest so thick Lightning didn't doubt that it had been growing since the dawn of time. The issue with this was that Sazh couldn't simply drop them off where they needed to go, and the forest was so large that walking all the way to their target would take so long it defeated the point.

Hence Lightning's current predicament: parachuting into a forest. One of the worst things you could ever do, according to her instructor. Lightning couldn't imagine why it would possibly be a bad idea.

The dense forest far beneath her feet was cast in shadow as the sun peaked it's golden body above the horizon. They were huge. Lightning did not doubt that they had been growing as long as trees _could_ grow. The early morning sun shone on Cocoon just right, making it a second sun in the early-morning sky.

Lightning returned her gaze to the trees beneath her feet and sighed. She was going to get caught in a tree. There was no avoiding it.

She cast a glance around her and saw the other nine members of her squad, plus Hope, descending around her. All of them looking considerably more graceful than her.

The descent seemed agonizingly slow. Finally, she hit the canopy and the branches blurred by her as she fell. She felt the thin, upper branches snap as her feet hit them, and she came to a sudden stop as her parachute snagged in the canopy above her, leaving her stranded far above the ground.

There were branches thick enough to support her everywhere, but she couldn't reach them. This was why grav-con units existed. She dug the small sphere out of its pouch and cursed when it caught on the lip of the pouch and slipped out of her hand, falling to the ground below.

"Perfect! Just Great!" She shouted. She had spent the last two weeks learning how to jump out of airships using N.O.R.A's 'new' technique and the first time she did it for real she screwed it up. Typical.

Lightning forced herself to calm down. Shouting wouldn't get her free. Even if it did make her feel better. There was only one way she was getting down. She sighed before tapping her comm-unit and calling Snow.

A few minutes later, the rest of the Silverwolves were assembled beneath her, watching her dangle helplessly from the trees. Snow's laughter over the radio still echoing in her head.

"Grab my grav-con unit and turn it on!" Lightning shouted at them, her patience long gone.

A brief search yielded the small sphere, dented and cracked from a rock it hit during the fall. "No dice!" Snow shouted up to Lightning.

"Hope, you're up." Hope dropped his bag, removing a thick coil of rope and slinging it over his shoulder before beginning the climb up a tree.

Fortunately, branches were plentiful and the climb was fast. Hope now stood on a thick tree branch several meters away, tying the rope around the massive tree trunk.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" she asked when she saw the smile on his face.

"A bit. It's an interesting change in dynamic." He replied.

"Let's not make it a permanent one."

"Clip it!" Hope ordered, throwing the other end of the rope to Lightning, who snapped the attached carabiner to the harness from her parachute without question. The smile was gone. He was all business now.

"When your ready, release the 'chute. The rope will swing you back towards the tree."

Lightning took a deep breath before fingering the releases on both sides of her harness. She felt the brief moment of weightlessness as gravity pulled her down. the rope swung her towards the tree. She grunted as she landed against the thick tree.

The tree didn't so much as shake against the impact. She disconnected herself from the harness and climbed down the tree, Hope following behind her, the thick rope once again coiled over his shoulder.

"Alright. Now that we're done playing with the trees, let's get moving. We have a lot of ground to cover." Snow said, getting everyone moving again.

The operation, such as it was, was to raid a Council warehouse in the hopes that it would provide the desperately needed supplies that would allow NORA to continue its operations, and let Hope find the parts he needed to finish repairing his ship. In preparation, Sazh had spent weeks doing fly-by's watching for Council military airships.

The hope was that there would be enough of a gap in the regular patrols that NORA could get in and out before anybody could stop them. Finally, their hope had come true: Sazh recognized the pattern two days before, and the Silverwolves had acted immediately.

As they got underway, Hope picked up the discarded grav-con unit and slipped it into his bag.

They walked as the sun rose higher in the sky, stopping frequently for breaks. The dense foliage provided relief from the worst of the sun, but it couldn't block the heat that came with a Pulse summer. The heat combined with the weight of the gear they carried made heat stroke and dehydration a very real threat.

They stopped as the sun began setting. It would be a few more hours until it was dark enough to attack.

"Alright folks," Snow announced, "We are currently about two kilometers south of the target. This is your last chance to check your gear and get some sleep. Don't waste it"

Lightning sat down, her back against a thick tree. She unfolded her Blazefire and started checking it, quadruple checking the actions. When she was done she pulled back the slide and placed a bullet directly in the chamber before slapping the full magazine back into place.

She put her Blazefire away as Hope sat down beside her, leaning against the same tree.

"Ready?" he asked

"Locked and loaded, you?"

"Yea." He sounded off.

Lightning looked over at him "Don't worry, Hope. We'll keep you safe."

Over the past two weeks one of the many things Lightning had learned about the Silverwolves was that they were very protective of Hope. She had no idea why, but they were.

"That's not the issue."

"Then what are you worried about? Clearly something's bothering you."

"People are going to get hurt in there. People are going to die."

"Yea."

"Weird as it sounds, I don't like fighting." He snorted. "I started a goddess-damn war, and I hate fighting, how screwed up is that?"

Lightning shook her head "Not screwed up at all, Hope. War is what we do when we're out of options, when there's nothing left to try. You find yourself enjoying it, get your head checked."

Hope nodded, mulling her words over in his head. "Thanks, Lightning." He said, "You look tired, get some sleep."

As Hope made to stand up Lightning stopped him. "Hope, can you tell me how the war started. What really happened?"

Every time she asked, all she got was a general description: food shortage, riots, rebellion. None of it explained why Hope was involved. Snow and NORA made sense, they would fight for any cause, but Hope? He would have a damn good reason for getting involved. Especially if he hated fighting so much.

"Now's not the time, Light. We'll talk about it later, I promise." Another non-answer. Lightning sighed.

Hope left Lightning to get some sleep, and she even managed to catch an hour before Snow woke everybody up.

"Alright guys, this is it. _Nora_ is waiting just outside of detection range, and Sazh is on standby in case things go sideways. Gear up, we move out in ten minutes."

The building stood alone a clearing. It had a flat with roof, the radio tower jutting out into the night sky. The clearing gave anybody looking out a clear line of sight that Lightning eyeballed to be two hundred meters.

The Silverwolves lay behind the treeline, surveying the area, and Lightning could see the airship warning lights flashing from the tower.

Lightning looked to Hope. After what he told her earlier, she was unsure of how he would hold up once they got inside. He was calm, resigned to the necessity of the attack.

"Vera. You're up" Snow commanded quietly, officially beginning the attack.

Vera dropped pulled the silenced, scoped, rifle from her back. She flipped down the bipod and went prone in the dirt.

"I've got you covered." she whispered, focusing down the scope of her weapon.

Lightning took a deep breath and waited for Snow to give the order. She could feel the anticipation growing, like a coiled spring waiting to break.

"Wait" She barked, as the Silverwolves started moving. Everyone stopped dead in their tracks, just short of the treeline.

The deadly whisper of her rifle answered the unasked question. After a moment she relaxed slightly.

"Okay, Go."

They started across the open field, moving as quickly and as quietly as they could. Twice more Lightning heard the deadly whisper of Vera's rifle and the bone crushing _thump_ of bodies hitting the ground from the roof.

They reached the building and stacked up on the entrance, a steel door with an access panel to the side.

"How is she getting to us?" Lightning asked. They weren't in a position to offer any kind of cover.

"She isn't." Came Snow's reply. "Sazh will pick her up before we leave." Lightning didn't like it, The odds would have been bad enough with her.

"Okay. Here we go," Snow whispered "We get to the roof and take out communications as fast as possible. There are fighters are parked on the roof, so we'll get up there and make sure they can't escape and sound the alarm that way."

Snow approached the panel and typed in a passcode, smiling when the panel turned green and the heavy door unlocked with a soft _click_.

"I love Amodar. Lets move. Quietly." he whispered, as the door opened sluggishly.

Snow entered first with Lightning hot on his heels, the rest of the team following quickly. Rock closed the door quietly behind them.

They entered into a hallway with doors lining both sides. The lights were clearly in 'night mode', the dim lighting barely enough for Lightning to see. Once everyone was inside they moved down the hallway, the only sounds were that of calm breathing and slow-moving boots.

The hallway ended in a left turn, and as they neared the corner Snow waved his hand violently. Everyone immediately everybody fell against the wall, silently.

Voices. Lightning could hear people walking towards them, their voices and the sound of their boots betraying their presence.

As the soldiers rounded the corner, Snow struck first. He wrapped his arm around the closest soldiers neck and squeezed, forcing him to the ground as he choked the man out. Lightning stepped past him, her Blazefire swinging smoothly. The second soldier fell silently.

The look on Hope's face said she'd be hearing about it later. Right now, there was work to do.

"Just shoot it!" Snow shouted over the howling alarm. Rock obliged, pointing his shotgun at the lock and pulling the trigger. His large-gauge shotgun blasting the lock to pieces.

When they arrived on the roof, they had found the communications tower locked behind a barbed wire-topped fence, complete with keypad access. Snow had spent precious minutes guessing the combination before the alarm sounded and destroyed any chance of subtlety.

"They must have found the guards. Or the blood." Hope shouted. They had hidden the bodies inside a storage closet, but they couldn't do anything about the blood.

"Rock, blow the antennae. Now! Everybody else, get to cover, there" Snow shouted, pointing to some crates between the parked fighters and the only entrance to the roof.

Once they were set, Rock detonated the explosives. The building shook as half a kilogram of explosive separated the tower from it's base, sending it crashing down across the roof of the building. Forty-five seconds later, The facilities security detail stormed through the doorway. The roof lit up in hails of gunfire

Snow tapped the com-unit in his ear " _Nora,_ the antennae is blown, but we're pinned down on the roof. We need support!"

The fighting was intense. The explosion had pitched the roof into complete darkness, the only coming from muzzle flashes. Lightning poked her her head above cover, emptying the ten-round magazine of her Blazefire in the direction of a muzzle flash. She dropped as a barrage of gunfire slammed into the crate she was hiding behind. She fingered the release mag-release before jamming a fresh magazine into the handle of the weapon.

She saw Hope crouched beside her, and wasn't quite sure of his expression.

"You good, Hope?" She asked

"Just not feeling particularly useful right now."

"I'd say that's a good thing." Lightning replied. Hope smiled slightly.

This wasn't good. They were pinned down time was running out.

"Snow what the hell is going on? We need to get off this roof!" Lightning shouted over the radio

"I know! Sazh is almost here."

Rock shouted, falling to the ground clutching his shoulder, blood pouring between his fingers. Hope was there in an instant, crossing the bullet-filled blackness without hesitation. He threw his backpack to the ground and dug through it, pulling out a first aid kit.

Hope sat back from Rock, his hands covered in blood

"Lightning, get over here!" he shouted. She sprinted towards him, keeping her head low, running from cover to cover in the darkness until she sank to her knees opposite Hope. Rock was already unconscious.

"What do you need?"

"Hold this." he said, pushing a flashlight into her hands. It was slick with Rock's blood. Lightning pointed the flashlight at Rock's shoulder as Hope tried to stem the bleeding.

Eventually he sat back, wiping the sweat off his forehead with his arm. He took an aerosol can out of his bag, the same spray he had used on Lightning two weeks before, and sprayed it over the wound. The wound was still bleeding, but less than before.

"Snow, Rock needs to get to _Nora_ now. That bullet nicked an artery. It's clamped for now, but he needs surgery. If he doesn't get off this roof soon, he's dead."

Snow nodded in response. They both knew that Sazh was already en route. All they could now was wait. Wait, and hope.

The exchanges continued, gunfire answering gunfire. But it was too dark, and nobody could see what they were shooting at. Eventually the exchanges slowed, and that was when Lightning heard it. The quiet howl of jet engines, quickly getting louder.

Suddenly, a star appeared in the sky, turning the rooftop from complete blackness to broad daylight in an instant. The fight was over. The soldiers threw down their weapons when they realized what was happening.

"I wonder if they realized there were no guns on that VTOL" Lightning asked Snow as they watched Hope and the medic from the other team, the SeeDs, loaded Rock onto Sazh's ship.

"Probably not, but they are going to be pissed when they do."

Lightning smiled slightly. Besides Rock there had been no injuries, and Hope believed that his chances were good. Sazh had gotten there in time, and the doctors on _Nora_ would patch him up. It turned out that Rock fainting wasn't because of blood loss, he couldn't stand the sight of blood.

As soon as Rock was loaded and Hope was off the VTOL, it's engines roared again, sending it speeding off towards _Nora_ , which was currently on its way to load up any supplies they could take before the next scheduled patrol, which was in about three and a half hours.

"What do we do with them?" Lightning asked, nodding towards the group of handcuffed prisoners. The SeeDs were still sweeping the building, but it had been nearly ten minutes since they found anybody else.

"Take them with us. Prisoners would give us a fair bit of leverage, and who knows? They might even know something useful."

Snow's head bent as he listened to his earpiece, and Lightning stared at him expectantly.

"They got into storage, and found a ship down there. Said Hope should take a look. Go with him, we still don't have this place locked down." Lightning nodded and turned, calling Hope as she walked towards the entrance to the roof, Blazefire already out.

Lightning could hear the rumbling of _Nora'_ s engines as the massive cargo ship hovered above the facility, using its cranes to lift the squadron of fighters, from the roof into _Nora'_ s hanger.

"What is it?" asked one of the soldiers.

"Something new. Something we are _definitely_ not supposed to know about, let alone have." Hope said.

"Look at the stamp on the side, DCRD. Defense Corps Research & Development" he continued, pronouncing it Dee-Curd. "All of their stuff is top-secret, I wonder what this is doing all the way out here."

"Failed project?" Lightning suggested

"No, from what I've heard, which isn't much, They decommission everything the second they finish with it. No loose ends. This must be a prototype or something, but why is it not under better guard?"

It was a VTOL. But this was completely different than the ones that Hope and Sazh flew. Theirs were flying ambulances, converted to carry a few troops. This was very clearly a warship, yet Lightning could see no weapons on it. Where Hope's ship was smooth corners, this prototype ship was hard, rigid lines.

It's engines were tapered on both ends, the front intakes sloping down and the rear exhaust sloping up. The tail of the plane split after the rear hatch into dual tail fins. The ship was about two thirds the size of Hope's, Lightning estimated.

"Well, why-ever its here, it sure is shiny. Let's check it out." He approached the rear of the midnight-black ship and pulled the release. The hatch opened with the smooth whine of spinning motors.

Hope entered, and Lightning followed. Hope closed the hatch, and all outside sound was cut off. _Nora_ 's engines, which moments ago had sounded like it was reverberating inside Lightning's skull, didn't even exist anymore.

"Good noise insulation." Lightning commented

Hope hummed, but he wasn't really listening.

The rear of the ship had five seats on either side with overhead storage running along the length of the compartment.

Hope moved forward to the cockpit and sat down in the pilots seat, and booted up the computers. Lightning stood over his shoulder, watching him work. Hope pulled up the ship registry and started reading. After a few seconds his breath caught.

"What is it?" Lightning asked.

"I was right, this is something we're definitely not supposed to know about. Look at this," He said, pointing to a line of text on the screen.

Ship Designation: DCRD-X22-Y

"What does it mean?"

"It means its a prototype." He pulled up the ship status information and started reading again.

"Goddess, look at this." he said, pointing four lines on the monitor:

Armament:

RPS: VCRUSHER 20/20

RPP: VCRUSHER 20/20

20MM GATLING: 1200/1200

"But there aren't any weapons on this thing." Lightning said. Short of the logo, there wasn't a single thing on the outside of the ship

"That's because it's all internal. Lightning, this is a stealth ship, it's the only thing that makes sense."

"I thought stealth ships were supposed to be sleeker, to make sure radio waves got reflected, or something." Lightning said, confused. While the ship was sleek, the engine pods and tail fins broke the profile of the ship considerably

"That's how it's usually done. If I remember right, you can also paint the ship with something that absorbs the radio waves. Come on, we have other things to do."

They exited the ship to find the same two soldiers still ogling the ship.

"You two! Think you two can get this thing onto _Nora_?"

"Yes, sir!" they chorused back.

"Get to it." They jumped into action.

He turned to Lightning "Okay. you and I need to find a few things."

"Where are we at?" Amodar asked, sliding into his chair at the head of the table. He had called senior personnel back to _Nora_ for a meeting while things was finishing up in the warehouse. The small, stuffy conference room also currently housed Hope, Snow, and Squall, team leader of the SeeD's.

Snow jumped in first. "We've finished clearing the base and have all the prisoners locked up. Thirty-three in total."

"Good. How are we coming with the wyverns?"

Hope jumped in "I have people going through them and removing the trackers, now. They'll be out before we leave. We also found enough power cells and ammo to keep them flying for a couple months. I also noticed they've versioned up. They are all tagged as mark-fours. I don't know what the difference is yet, though, but I'll figure it out."

"That's what I like to here. When we get back to New Villam, we'll have to start training people to fly. No use having them if we can't use them. What's the status on this other ship?"

Hope sat back in his chair and ran his hands through his hair.

"I have no idea why something like this be out here with no protection. It makes no sense. The version code tells me its something DCRD put a lot of time and effort into, and isn't just some failed experiment waiting to be decommissioned, but if that's the case we would all be dead right now."

"Thoughts?" Amodar asked.

"Either its a trap, or we got very, _very_ lucky."

"I don't believe in luck."

Hope nodded. "I know. I think Noel, Maq, Sazh, and I should take a closer look, just to make sure we're not bringing the Council home with us."

"Well you have another hour before we move out." Amodar said.

Hope sighed, "We're going to need longer than that, a week at least."

"So What? Fly in circles around until you can figure this thing out? That paints a huge target on our back" Amodar replied.

"Not quite circles. If they are tracking us, They'll know what we're doing. We should head for the Fey."

"The Fey?! Are you insane? No one has ever made it out of there!" Amodar said in disbelief.

"Exactly. If they track us into the Fey, they might think that's where we're holed up. At the very least it will confuse them, and if we're lucky it'll redirect them away from New Villam and maybe get them lost along the way."

"That still doesn't tell me how _we_ aren't going to get lost."

"I'm not sure about that part yet but don't worry, I'll figure it out before we get there."

Amodar rested his elbows on the table and put his face in his hands.

"You know this would extend the return trip from one day to almost two weeks? Its going to make a lot of people unhappy."

"Do we have a choice? We need this ship, and we need to make sure they can't track it. I don't see any other way. Do you?"

Amodar sighed. Finally he punched the comm unit attached to the wall.

"Cid. Set course for the Fey, half thrust." he cut the channel without waiting for a response before looking at Hope.

"Get to work."


	5. The Chase

A/N: I am so sorry. This chapter is a full month overdue and that was after I pushed it back. On top of that, it's a fairly short chapter so again, I'm sorry. School has been kicking the crap out of me, and now it's exam season so it's getting even better! Anyway, I figured I'd push out one more chapter before my first exam tomorrow since the next one will probably be around Christmas time.

You guys can thank the reviewers for getting this one before Christmas. Reading them really is a kick in the pants. Anyway, I hope everyone likes it.

* * *

"Anything?" Hope asked hopefully. He was leaning against the midnight black attack ship, staring out at the hangar which was now filled with fifteen Mk. IV Wyverns, the newest and meanest fighters to ever come out of the Bellyn shipyards.

Before the war started all light attack craft had crews of three, a pilot and two gunners who operated side-mounted turrets. The large weight meant that the airships were slow, heavy, and not as maneuverable as the wildlife adversaries, and relied on the wide firing arcs of their turrets.

When the war started, DCRD stopped designing weapons to protect people and starting designing weapons to kill them. The results were finally being fielded, and it was not a good sign for N.O.R.A. If the spec sheets were to be believed, they were smaller, faster, and more maneuverable, while actually managing to increase flight times and munition storage.

So not only were they smaller and faster, they could fly farther and hit harder than ever before.

"Nothing," Noel replied turning off the radio frequency monitor and slamming the antenna closed. "Literally nothing. No radio frequency of any kind."

"There has to be something," Hope said exasperated, pushing himself from where we he was leaning against the ship. It had been four days, and they had not found a thing.

"There probably is, but it's not being transmitted over RF."

"Nothing is ever easy," Hope said, running his hands through his fair.

"If it was, life would be so _boring_." Hope smiled in spite of himself. He looked at the ship and sighed. As much as he hated what it was, it sure was shiny.

"You know we're going to have to rip this thing apart before we're done?"

"Yea. I hope we can put it back together again. Hey, any luck finding a way through the Fey?" Noel asked, changing the subject as he returned the RF monitor to the toolboxes bolted to the walls of the hanger.

"Nothing solid yet."

"Aren't we getting to the Fey tomorrow?"

"Yea. Can you finish up here? I want to talk to Cid about it."

"Go for it. He usually eats around now."

"Thanks," Hope said, shrugging back into his shirt on as he headed for the galley.

He was officially out of ideas. There had to be _something_ that let the DC track the ship, but whatever it was, it wasn't transmitting over radio waves.

At least they had made progress with the Wyverns. Since N.O.R.A. had a shortage of technical expertise, Hope deputized Biggs and Wedge, the soldiers who were responsible for finding the current source of Hope's frustration. After he returned to _Nora_ and found them staring still gawking at it, Hope had put them to work before they had a chance to run. He showed them how to remove the tracking devices before setting them loose, letting him focus on other problems. He still had to tell Squall that he was hijacking two of his soldiers, but that was a problem for later.

True to Noel's word, Cid was in the galley eating dinner alone in the galley. Not many people were usually still awake this late, but Cid had been pulling longer shifts than usual because they were behind enemy lines. If they had to turn tail and run, Amodar didn't want Cid on the other side of the ship sleeping when it happened.

"Hey, Cid. Mind if I pick your brain?" Hope asked the middle-aged pilot.

"Not at all. Sit." Cid replied. Gesturing to the seat opposite him. "Here about your new toy?"

"Headache more like, but no. I wanted to ask you about the Fey," he replied as he took a seat at the long, otherwise empty table. If there was anybody on board who could tell him something useful, it was Cid.

"Oh, the deathtrap you have me flying directly into? Thanks for that, by the way."

"Anytime. I was wondering if you have any thoughts on getting through it." Hope said.

"Y'know, I'm really glad you have a plan." he sighed, rubbing his forehead with his hand. before continuing

"Look, all I can tell you is that the Fey is a magnetic bowl of soup, but anybody who took geography in grade school could tell you that. Now normally this magnetism on its own wouldn't be a huge issue, but something about the whole area just takes our nav systems to town. So the way I see it, figure out how to navigate without those systems, and we're set."

So all he had to do was find a way to navigate without using any shipboard system specifically designed to do that. Fantastic.

Hope's eyes widened. Shipboard system.

"Thanks, Cid, you just gave me an idea," Hope said, standing up to leave. Cid waved him off and returned to his meal.

They could not use anything that was on the ship, but what about something not on the ship? Something not in the Fey at all? It might not even work. But right now it was too late to do anything but sleep, and Hope needed as much of that as he could get.

* * *

Hope walked onto the bridge still rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He was wearing yesterday's clothes, but when Amodar radioed his room and told him to "Get to bridge or we're all going to die" Hope wasn't going to waste time fishing around in his closet. He didn't even take his radio with him.

"Good you're here. Take a look at this." Amodar said. He was huddled around Yuj's console, while Snow stood at the front of the bridge, watching the gray wall of the Fey grow larger in the distance, a look of dumb amazement on his face.

"How far away is that?" he asked, squinting at the thick fog in the distance. If he tried hard enough, he could see the faint outlines of mountains through the fog.

"Radar goes funny around... Fifty-eight-point-five klicks." Yuj replied absentmindedly, staring at the radar screen on his console.

"Woah..." he whispered in awe.

"Can we focus, please?" Amodar shouted from across the bridge. Everybody who wasn't Snow was huddled around Yuj's console, watching a dot on the radar slowly get closer.

"It showed up on the screens about three minutes ago," Yuj told Hope. "Size estimate pegs it at a cruiser."

Hope swore softly.

"Can we beat 'em?" Snow asked.

Hope shook his head. "Cruisers carry a twenty-five millimeter auto-cannon as a primary weapon. It might be a third our size, but it was built for a fight. All we can do is run. Run, and pray."

"What about all those shiny fighters in the hangar?" he asked

"And who the hell is going to fly them? The only pilots we have are me, Sazh, and Cid. And I'm the only one that has ACM training" he said, referring to the Advanced Combat Manoeuvrings course that all Calvary trained pilots were required to take. Sazh and Cid, being commercial pilots, did not have it.

Yuj sat up even straighter. "Fighter launch!" he said, stopping all conversation as five smaller radar blips swarmed away from the cruiser.

Hope frowned as he watched the blips fan out, creating a net, effectively pinning them between the cruiser and the Fey. For better or worse, there was no turning back now.

"Sir, they're broadcasting," Lebreau said from the other side of the cramped bridge.

"Let's hear it," Amodar said, retaking the captain's chair in the middle of the bridge.

Lebreau flicked a switch on her console and the transmission sent to the speakers.

"-Repeat this is Council Defense Ship _Invictus._ Unidentified ship, you are under arrest for attacking a Council warehouse, stealing Council Defense Force technology, and kidnapping CDF personnel. Cut your forward thrust and prepare to be boarded. I-"

"Shut it off," he ordered. "Hear that? They think they've got us trapped. Cid cut the safeties and go to max thrust, I want to haul-ass. And get Gadot on the guns, we're going to need 'em. How long until _Invictus_ catches up?"

"If this is as their top speed, forty-three minutes. The Wyverns can do it twenty if they want to." Yuj answered.

"How long until we reach the Fey?"

"Forty minutes until we're in the fog," Cid answered

"That's cutting it a little close. Will they follow us in?"

"SOP's strictly prohibit it. Even in combat situations. Anyone who goes in is dead anyway, no point following them." Hope answered.

"Good. Then all we have to do is last that long."

The next half an hour was a tense one. The bridge was dead silent. The only noise was the vibrations of the ship's engines and Yuj's brief, periodic updates about the positions of the incoming ships.

"Course change! Cruiser accelerating to fifty knots, Wyverns accelerating to one-hundred-and-four knots!" Yuj shouted, shattering the silence like glass.

"How long until we're in the Fey?"

"Ten minutes," Cid answered from the helm.

"How long until the Wyverns are within weapons range?"

"Five," Yuj responded.

"I don't like that math. Cid, when they get into range, swing us ten degrees starboard and let Gadot go to work." He sighed, finally sitting back in his.

The captain's chair chirped, and Amodar accepted the call.

"Is Hope on the bridge? He's not answering his comm," Noel asked through the speaker.

"I'm here," Hope answered

"Get down here. Now." Hope looked to Amodar questioningly who nodded.

"Go." Hope sprinted from the bridge as the General Quarters alarm blasted over _Nora's_ intercom.

Lightning was visiting Rock in the infirmary when the GQ sounded. Lightning found herself spending a lot of her free time with him, his calm, quite nature suited her and they grew to be fast friends. He was recovering quickly, but the bandage-wrapped hole in his shoulder would stop him from fighting for at least another few months.

"I'll find out what's going on," she said, standing up from her chair beside Rock's bed. The medical staff were flying around the room, securing everything that wasn't bolted to the floor.

She opened the door as Hope flew past, dancing around Lightning as she stepped into the hall.

"What's going on?!" She shouted at him as he ran past.

"We're under attack!" he shouted back, never breaking stride.

Lightning looked back at Rock, who nodded, before running towards the barracks, _Nora's_ deck designated to housing embarked troops. If there was anywhere she was supposed to be, it was there.

"So I decided to check for RF signals one more time, just in case. About 30 minutes ago this thing lit up like a Christmas tree."

"30 minutes? You're sure?" Hope asked.

"Yeah, Something significant about exactly thirty minutes ago?"

Hope nodded "Same time we picked up that cruiser on radar."

"So it waits until someone comes calling, then blasts a signal."

Hope nodded his agreement. "Good, means we know what we're looking for. That kind of system would need has its own power source, but if we're lucky its hooked up to one of the major comm systems. The secondary antenna if I had to guess."

"We'll check it later. Right now, we have to get everything strapped down." As they worked, the hull shook as Gadot opened fire.

 _Nora_ bucked an older, Mk. III Wyvern crashed into the forward-thrusting engine on its port side, causing an explosion that threw a standing Snow to the deck.

"The last two are breaking off!" Yuj shouted.

"Sitrep!" Amodar barked from the command chair. He could feel _Nora_ decelerating as one of its three forward thrusters coughed its last breath of life.

"Port Engine down, firing maneuvering thrusters to compensate for the rotation, but at this level, they won't last forever!" Cid responded from the pilot's chair.

"Dam-Con one is moving to assess!" Maqui shouted, "Dam-con two says they'll have radar back up in under a minute."

"Speed?"

"Seventeen knots" Cid answered.

"How long until we're in the Fey?"

"Two minutes at new speed," Cid answered again.

Amodar pressed the comm button on his console and called Hope. Swearing when there was no answer, he called the hanger instead.

"What is it?" Hope's out of breath voice crackled out of the speaker.

"We're going to be in the Fey in two minutes, get up here!" Amodar ordered.

"On my way." Amodar closed the channel.

"Sir, new message from _Invictus_ " Lebreau injected

"Put it on."

"Pirate vessel, what the hell are you doing?! Get out of there! Nobody survives the Fey, You'll get yourselves killed!"

"Lebreau transmit back: N.O.R.A. would rather die than be subject to a corrupt Council."

"Sent."

Hope arrived out of breath as _Nora's_ bow began to be enveloped in the thick fog of the Fey.

"Okay Hope, let's hear it. How are we getting through?"

Hope walked to the front of the bridge, stopping in front of the windows. He pointed at the sun, still visible through the thick fog. "There," he said, "Put the bow to that heading and follow it."

Amodar's jaw dropped slightly. "Are you serious? Follow the sun? THAT is your plan?!"

"Sun goes East to West and we need to go West, so I figure, follow the sun, stop when the sun sets."

"We're all dead." he muttered under his breath.

"Alright, you heard him. Cid…" He sighed "Follow the goddess-damned sun."


	6. Ashe

A/N: Hey everyone, sorry for the long delay. I was planning to get this out around Christmas, but we all know how that went. Anyway, school is picking up again, so I'm not sure when the next update will be, but I'll try and update my profile occasionally to let you all know what's going on.

Undaunted Wind: I'm glad you're enjoying the story! Hopefully (something-something pun...) you enjoy this chapter as well. Also, I actually did manage to pass all (not just most :P) of my exams.

* * *

"Sitrep!" Amodar barked. The fog swirling around _Nora_ was so dense that Amodar could barely see past the bow. They had crossed into the Fey between two mountains, and already Amodar couldn't see them just a few seconds later.

Cid responded first, "Port maneuvering thruster is overheating. If we don't shut it down now, it's going to melt."

"Shut it down," Amodar replied.

"I have to shut down the starboard thruster as well, or we're going to spin."

"Do it. What else we got?"

Yuj answered this time "Radar is back up. From what I'm seeing it looks like the mountains are scattering or absorbing the radio waves, so we should be able to use radar to make sure we don't hit any mountains, which is good because it looks like we're in a valley." They would have to trust his radar; the fog was much too thick to see anything at a distance.

"Finally, some good news. Keep your eyes glued to that screen and coordinate with Cid. You're the only eyes we have."

Yuj nodded his acknowledgment before calling out a heading to Cid that would guide them out of the valley. Unfortunately, they couldn't go over the mountains in this valley, _Nora_ was too heavy and the ship's engines wouldn't get the needed thrust at that altitude. Higher elevation meant less air and less air meant that the engines couldn't suck in, and subsequently blow out, enough air to keep the ship afloat.

Amodar turned to Lebreau, "Are we getting anything on comms?"

"Nothing."

"Keep listening. Let me know if that changes." Lebreau just nodded. As if she would do anything else.

Amodar tapped some buttons on his console and opened a comm channel "Sazh, get to your ship. I need you to find us a place to land."

"On my way," Sazh responded

Twenty minutes later saw Sazh skimming over the treetops, searching for an open enough area for _Nora_ to make a landing. His right hand was on the control stick while his left pushed the throttle forwards another few centimeters, basking in the feel of being pressed against his seat as his ship shot forward, kicking up water droplets on the trees below him. The graying pilot was grinning from ear to ear, he rarely got the excuse to fly for fun anymore.

As a precaution, Sazh slaved his shuttle's radar screen to _Nora_ , allowing him to utilize the massive ship's radar array to increase what little vision he had. The screen told him that he was approaching the edges of the valley and that it was time to turn and start the next pass of his search. He clicked on his radio and reported in.

"Come in _Nora,_ " he said and waited for the response.

"Go ahead, Pathfinder," came the response. There was a weak static in the signal, but it was still clear. Turns out that communications worked just fine once you were inside the Fey. Yuj's theory was that the mountains were blocking the signals.

"First pass completed, starting pass two."

"Understood Pathfinder, good hunting," Lebreau's voice said through the radio.

Six hours later Sazh was running low on fuel. He had done thirty passes and still nothing. He clicked his radio to life and started talking.

"Come in _Nora,_ " he said, and once again waited for the response.

"Go ahead, Pathfinder" Lebreau sounded tired through the radio. Sazh couldn't blame her, she had been on duty for over fifteen hours. Sazh himself had been flying for not even half that time and he was losing focus.

"I have approximately twenty minutes of fuel remaining, should I complete my thirty-first pass?" He guestimated that each pass took about twelve minutes and estimated about six minutes to return to _Nora,_ so theoretically he had enough fuel to complete the pass and return back to Nora, but he wasn't willing to crash his ship on a guess without confirmation.

"Hold one, Pathfinder" Lebreau's voice buzzed through the radio. Sazh waited while Lebreau talked to Amodar _Nora'_ sbridge.

"Pathfinder, You're cleared for your final pass. We'll alter course and shorten your return trip."

"Understood, _Nora_." Sazh clicked off the radio and brought his ship around to start his final pass. He had scoured almost the entire valley and the ground was covered in forests rocks and rivers, all of which was unsuitable for _Nora_ to land.

Five minutes into his last pass, Sazh's shuttle passed over an abrupt end to the forest. He was so tired it took him a second to realize what was happening.

When he finally comprehended, his eyes widened in surprise. He had lost hope of finding somewhere to land. He cut his throttle in half and turned around, heading back to look at the area below him. It looked like a dry river bed, but it was massive, easily as wide as _Nora_.

Sazh followed the river bed for about thirty seconds, easily the length of _Nora_ at his current speed, just to make confirm that the massive freighter would fit. When he was satisfied he called _Nora_ and gave them the good news.

"You're sure?" Amodar asked, leaning forward in his chair.

Sazh had landed his shuttle and waited for _Nora_ to arrive at the riverbed. While he was waiting he took a walk, where he heard the subject of the current conversation. As Sazh had requested once he had returned to the ship, he and Amodar were now alone in _Nora_ 's conference room. Amodar now understood the reason for the secrecy.

"Wolf howls are a pretty distinctive sound, and we both know this is textbook wolf territory." Amodar nodded.

"Right. Okay, I'll send the Silverwolves and the SEEDs out while the DAMCON teams work, just to be safe. Don't tell anybody else about this. Tensions are high enough"

"Right," Sazh replied, nodding before standing and leaving Amodar alone in the conference room.

As if there wasn't enough going on, they were stuck in the middle of wolf territory and needed people working on the ground. Amodar just hoped it was enough to keep those workers safe. It would have to be.

"Okay Maq, we're done out here. Everything's welded up and looks good,"

"Great. Get your people back inside, if everything looks good, we'll be taking off in about 10 minutes. Don't forget the Silverwolves out there."

Niklas Lionward, team leader, DAMCON-ONE, smiled at the joke as he closed the connection on his comm unit. They both knew he would never forget about the Silverwolves. Well, one in particular.

"Alright gents, pack it up. We're back onboard in ten minutes, and I'd hate to leave you behind."

All around him, people scrambled to collect their gear while the technicians working from the crane-mounted platforms raised back towards _Nora_ 's deck. Niklas stopped for a second and admired the result of two and a half days of work.

 _Nora_ had gotten extremely lucky when the Wyvern crashed into its port thruster. The fighter didn't slam directly into the engine; but smashed into the engine nozzle instead, punching holes through the cone and sending shrapnel into the thruster itself.

Fortunately, the damage to the thruster had been minimal, but the nozzle had to be patched or it would severely affect the thrust of the engine. The patches weren't pretty, but they'd work. Niklas was proud of his team. They had completed a major repair to _Nora_ on their own, in the middle of nowhere, with nothing but a few welding rigs and some scrap steel. Who needed a dry dock anyway?

Niklas looked around at the dense, wet fog that desperately clung to the air and refused to break. The fog was so dense that his short brown hair was damp. More annoyingly, his clothes were damp and were sticking to his toned, five-foot-ten body giving him chills on an already brisk morning.

The fog also stopped him from seeing more than about twenty meters in any direction. The work platforms had already ascended beyond what he could see, only the whining of the crane's motors signaled that they even still existed.

He couldn't even see the Silverwolves, who patrolling a perimeter only fifty meters away. But unlike the cranes, he couldn't hear them. Not that he really expected to. Still, he felt better having them out there, some of the workers were jumping at shadows and claiming they were hearing wolf calls. He tapped his comm unit and started talking over the general comm net.

"Snow, It's Nik. We're packing up over here, meet us back at the lift in ten minutes."

"Understood," Came the reply.

The lifts were the fastest way back inside the ship from the stern. However, since the lifts were loaded with welding equipment, they had to be unloaded first and sent back down. Even with two empty lifts, it would take two trips to get all the people and equipment back on board. Niklas sighed before moving to help his team collect their gear.

"Okay. Try it now." Maqui's voice rang out through engineering and over the open comm channel to the bridge. His voice was laced with the sluggishness that came from a lot of hard work and not a lot of sleep. If he was being honest with himself, he couldn't remember the last time he slept. The bags under his eyes were starting to scare some of the younger technicians.

He checked the readouts as the port thruster was brought back online. He started it at ten percent power, and when he was satisfied with the readouts, slowly ramped it back up to 100%. The massive engine started to roar as it peaked, sending constant vibrations throughout the ship. It was something Maqui had sorely missed. After spending years living on _Nora_ , the vibrating engines had begun to feel like home.

Cheering broke out across engineering.

"Yes…" Maqui whispered, closing his eyes and finally relaxing. The stress slipped out of his shoulders as he placed his hands on his console and rested his weight on them.

"Good work Maq. Get some sleep, All of you. You deserve it," Amodar's voice echoed through the speakers before the channel closed.

"Terra, you have command," Maqui shouted to Terra Caraway, his second in command, as he turned to leave engineering.

"Get some sleep, Sir," Came the reply before thin redhead started shouting orders to get equipment fastened down before liftoff.

Maqui stopped at the door and turned to watch the Second in Command, Engineering work. She was almost as tall as his six-foot-one and was the image of authority when she wanted to be. She had his people scurrying about the deck like their lives depended on it, but she was right in the thick of it, leading by example.

Maqui smiled. She was going to have his job one day, he just hoped it was because he retired. He turned and left, heading back to his quarters. Since she took over as SIC-ENG, he didn't worry about the ship falling apart when he was off duty.

"Okay, Try it now."

"Hope, I swear-"

"It'll work this time."

"DAMMIT HOPE!"

"Crap. Sorry. Try it now, Last time I promise."

The transmitter pulled free, without electrocuting Noel this time. He untangled himself from the mess that was now the secondary antenna array before replacing the bulkhead. He tossed the small, black cube, wires streaming like tail fins, at Hope, who deftly snatched it out of the air.

"Small thing to cause so much trouble," Hope commented, sitting down on one of the ten seats in the back of the ship.

"At least it's done with," Noel replied, sitting down opposite Hope. "So what are you going to do now?"

"I don't know. Get something to eat?" Hope answered.

"That's not what I meant."

Hope stared at him blankly.

"You're going to be the one flying this thing, and you're going to be the one training Wyvern pilots. How are you going to reconcile that with your whole not killing people thing? And don't think for a second that your deal with Rygdea is worth crap because we both know it's not."

Hope sat back and ran his hands through his hair.

"I don't know Noel. I try my hardest to do right by Ashe, but when Rygdea asks, I don't see how I can refuse. I started this goddess-forsaken war, how could I not do what it takes to finish it? But how can I do this without feeling like I'm betraying her?"

"I think you need to come to terms with the fact that Ashe's. Do you really believe that she wouldn't have wanted you to do anything differently?"

"I don't know anymore, Noel. And it scares the hell out of me."

"Then get your head checked! My sister agreed to marry you for a reason, and it wasn't because you were a wimp." Noel was practically shouting now.

"Then why the hell was it, Noel?! Because I never got a chance to find out," Hope shouted standing up angrily, his eyes wet. Noel followed him up.

"Hell if I know, Hope. But I know for a fact that she wouldn't have stood for the shit the Council pulled, and she would've fought to her dying breath to stop it. Circumstances change Hope, don't get caught in the past."

Hope's tears finally formed and streamed down his face. A sob choked his throat as he pulled Noel into a hug.

"I miss her so much." Hope cried choked into Noel's shoulder.

"Me too, man. Me too."

Lightning wandered down the otherwise empty hallway towards Hope's room. It was mid afternoon and she hadn't eaten aside from a quick breakfast before heading out on patrol, and wanted to get lunch with Hope, as had become their routine over the last week.

After their extremely one-sided encounter with Invictus, they had been forced to land to repair the damage to Nora's port thruster. An extremely difficult thing to do with an impossibly thick fog clinging to the air and blinding _Nora,_ especially when they were flying low through a mountain range.

Since the repairs meant work crews on the ground to repair external damage, the Silverwolves and SEEDs alternated days to patrol the area and protect the crews. When the work had finished on the last day, they had been forced to wait until _Nora_ was fully airborne until they were allowed to move freely about the ship.

Lightning knocked on Hope's door and frowned when he didn't answer. She had gone by the hanger first and Noel had confirmed that Hope had said he was going to his room. She banged on the door this time, causing it to shake.

"Hope, are you in there?" Something didn't feel right. "If you don't open this door, I will!" she shouted through the door.

She was reaching to pry the door open when it opened.

His uniform was disheveled, and his eyes were slightly red. "Hey, Light."

"Goddess Hope, are you okay?"

"Yea, I'm fine."

The dim light from the hallway shone off an object on Hope's bed and caught Lightning's eye.

"Fine my ass," she said, pushing past Hope towards his bed, and the pure white gunblade lying on it. The weapon was in its rifle configuration, a short barrelled carbine. She picked up the weapon and ejected the magazine, sighing when she saw it was empty. She cleared the chamber just in case before flipping the weapon into its carrying configuration and shoving it back into the leather holster that was sitting beside it on the bed.

"Goddess, Hope, you scared me. What the hell are you doing with a gunblade? You're not trained to use one." Getting trained on the gunblade was a rigorous training course at the end of which candidates received small tags on their pauldron, something Hope did not have.

"What, did you think I was going to off myself?" He asked. Lightning's heart skipped a beat and her grip tightened on the handle of the now-sheathed weapon. That was exactly what she had thought. It wouldn't have been the first time a soldier committed suicide.

"Have you looked in a mirror Hope? You're not looking so good. And answer my question, why do you have a gunblade, and why wasn't it stowed?"

The writing etched into the handle finally caught Lightning's attention. The writing was smooth and barely noticeable when holding the weapon, but that smoothness was what caught Lightning's attention. Most additions to gunblade handles added grip, this didn't. She looked down at the handle and saw Hope's name inscribed in the metal. beneath the name was carved a simple representation of Pulse and Cocoon. Lightning's breath choked in her throat when she realized what it was: the symbol of engagement back on Cocoon.

"Hope…"

"We got engaged three and a half years ago. She died three weeks later, protecting Villiam from a behemoth attack."

"I'm so sorry, Hope. What was her name?" Lightning was at a loss. She finally thought she was coming to know who this new Hope was, and then this.

"Her name was Ashe. If you don't mind, Light, I kind of want to be alone," He continued when he saw her staring apprehensively at Ashe's gunblade. "I'm not dead yet, you know."

She smiled sadly before replacing the weapon on Hope's bed. She walked towards the door but stopped when she reached Hope and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"If you ever want to learn how to use that gunblade, come see me. It's a good skill to have."

She left the room, stopping again just outside the door. "Lunch tomorrow?" she asked.

"Sounds good, Light."


End file.
